When Vibes Aren’t Enough
By Mitch Berg
Can Kamala Harris ride “Vibes” and “Rizz” all the way to the White House?
Pessimistic as I am about the collective intelligence of half our population, I’m not always optimistic.
But Jim Geraghty has his doubts:
The Harris campaign’s entire theory of the case is wrong. Reminding people about what they couldn’t stand about Trump and emphasizing “joy” and “vibes” is not sufficient to close the deal with an electorate. It completely misreads the mood of the voters, who have been coping with runaway inflation and a high cost of living for most of the past four years, who have a growing sense that no one is in charge at the border, who worry about a genuine post-Covid rise in crime, and who see an international scene beset by invasions, terrorism, and massacres, all presided over by a doddering old man who was hidden from the public by a staff that took Edith Wilson as a role model.
This past weekend, Peggy Noonan asked the question the Harris brain trust should have asked: Is this the right moment in American life to proclaim a new politics of “joy”? “Do you want to feel joyful?” is the wrong question; almost all of us would prefer to be happier. The question is: Do you look around at the state of the United States and the world today — and the performance of this administration for the past four years — and feel like joy is the appropriate response?
My semi-related theory: Democrats have been using Minnesota as a testbed for their approach in campaigning; running for high office on pure social media happy-vibing and platitudes, abetted by a mostly-in-the-tank media, worked well for Walz and Flanagan (and Dayton before them).
Why wouldn’t it work for Harris?
The answer – the fact that a few reporters, and “reporters”, didn’t get the message: Harris could screw up scrambled eggs:
(As noted on yesterday’s Three Martini Lunch podcast, let’s just take a moment to savor the irony that Sunny Hostin asked Harris the question that did so much damage.)
Much more in the next couple of weeks.
October 9th, 2024 at 11:30 am
“mostly-in-the-tank”? Only when the following headlines make the rounds will “mostly” apply to MSM. Each and every one of them. If this is not election interference what is? Oh wait, I forgot, russia, Russia, RUSSIA!
Marines Fly in Food, Shelter Kits, Tarps to Aid Philippines After Typhoon Destroys Homes
This has been the government donation: pallets of electric chainsaws to communities that have no power
Sheriff: Helene Survivors Cannot Apply for $750 Because They Do Not Have a Phone or Computer
and last but not least:
Wow – 60 Minutes Edits Kamala Harris Interview to Remove Her Jibberish and Completely Change Answers to Questions
October 9th, 2024 at 4:21 pm
Regarding Harris’ campaign style, the thing that strikes me is that even when 60 minutes edited her response heavily, she still sounded like a ditz. When a person is unable to coherently answer a simple question, no thinking person is going to respect them.
So the question is, this election as last, whether the low information voters and liberal ideologues will prevail. I hope they will not this time.